Pusha T Talks ‘Grindin’ Beat for Clipse and Support for Clinton on ‘Colbert’

Pusha T has enjoyed much success from producing the Clipse song “Grindin’, which features a beat by Pharrell Williams. During a recent interview, the rapper revealed that he almost lost the beat to a hip-hop legend.

“He actually threatened me,” Pusha said of Pharrell. “He told me if I was not at the studio in 10 minutes he was going to give the beat to Jay Z.”

The rapper told the story during an appearance on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert on Thursday evening (Oct. 27). “Me and Pharrell are really good friends, we grew up in the same hometown, so the fact that he would give a great beat to an artist who wasn’t from our hometown would have burnt me up. Of course I made it in 10 minutes and the rest is history.”

He and Justin Timberlake helped reinvent McDonald’s “I’m Lovin’ It” jingle, too, and part of the success of the song included a meeting with Ronald McDonald himself. “He didn’t talk. He just smiled and waved. I thought I was four again,” Pusha T said of meeting the legendary clown in person.

Then the interview took a serious turn, and Pusha T spoke about his admiration for Hillary Clinton. The rapper has spoken with the presidential candidate via FaceTime and have a collaboration where those who register to voice are automatically entered for a chance to meet Pusha T.

He says that he “definitely believes” Clinton will follow Obama’s work on reforming prisons and reducing incarceration rates in the U.S.

“That’s the most important issue to me simply because I feel like that’s the most important issue tearing apart our community right now,” he says. “You can’t vote, you can’t get grants [if you’ve been imprisoned]. It’s like you keep paying forever. We have to change that.”